SAO: Corona Digitalization
by VirusChris
Summary: The Multiverse has many timelines. Each with their own infinite reality. In one such timeline a certain hero meant to free players trapped in an MMO death game, SAO, had his place taken by another. His world forever doomed. In response fate has decided another hero shall take his place to save them. Someone from another dimension with supernatural monsters in tow. OC x Harem


**SWORD ART ONLINE: CORONA DIGITALIZATION**

 _By VirusChris_

* * *

 **Summary:** **The Multiverse has many timelines. Each with their own infinite reality. In one such timeline a certain hero meant to free players trapped in an MMO death game, SAO, had his place taken by another. Dooming this world without hope for the trapped souls. In response fate decides another hero who can save them all will take his place… one from another dimension altogether with supernatural forces in tow hacking the game for their own sinister amusement. Looks like Chris Corona is never going to catch a break again.**

 **This is another one of my "Corona" stories where my OC, Chris Corona, appears in other dimensions to help and team up with cast from that world. Basically, each Chris is a different reality version of the same character, like the Akame ga Kill version of my OC and the SAO version here have similar backstories but walked different paths and had slightly different lives. Another example is my Senran Kagura story Chris Corona, he has no combat experience before yet he is the same 'person' yet lived a different life. Regardless this is another "Chris Corona" in this setting.**

 **OC x Harem**

* * *

 **LEVEL 1: New Reality**

 _ **[LINEBREAK]**_

"Ugh…"

A voice groaned as a young man is laid flat facedown, head turned on the left side, as the person began to regain consciousness. Body aching all over. Spiky jet-black hair with snow-white highlighted tips parted ways as he began moving his sore frame.

Lifting his torso up from the ground, supporting his weight with one hand on the ground and the massaging his head with the other hand to focus his distorted vision. Slowly opening his eyes, he noticed he was located in a large grassy field, a few dirt patches here and there and other trees and bushes as well. This seemed about right as he recalled that's where he was last, but something was off.

He was fighting someone, he remembered. But who?

Eyes flashing in recognition as that particular memory resurfaced in his mind. An irritated scowl and narrowed eyes decorated his features as he finally got back up on his feet.

 _ECHO Ender_. His arch-nemesis.

A supernatural creature with many powers, mostly destructive in nature, and a source of his irk for him. A being referred as one of the ECHOES that plagued his realm. He's known this being for most of his life as a kid and as plagued him since the moment they've met. He, or really It considering ECHO Monsters have no gender… technically…, has caused a great deal of trouble for him and the two have constantly clashed with one another.

This honestly deep down, he really does enjoy fighting Ender.

Their most recent bout is probably what lead him here. He was caught off guard by Ender when the ECHO did an unperformed trick on him, which is normal for ECHOES as they like to random at times, and he was knocked out cold as a result.

He did something to him as well as he waited for Chris to use their **powers** to defeat him. Odd it didn't want to finish him off there and then, but truthfully, he believed Ender doesn't truly want to kill him. Though you can't be too careful with ECHO Monsters.

" ***Sigh*** Just another one of those days…," he sighed bemusingly to himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Surveying his surroundings with his bright blue eyes, he noticed… something felt was different. He thought he looked like where he was fighting Ender, but it wasn't. He couldn't quite place his finger on it. When Ender tricked him, the ECHO Monster mentioned something about a "fun game" it found in another world that he would enjoy.

He wasn't sure what the ECHO was talking about, but it can't be anything good for him.

He gave himself a once over to make sure he was fine. No bruise, scratches, or any marks on his body. His short-sleeve red hoodie jacket was fine. Along with his black V-neck t-shirt and black fingerless. Baggy cargo shorts that went over his knee and the pockets were empty as usually. Even his black strapless sneakers had no speck of dirt on it either.

And finally, his family pendant chained around his neck laid nested in the middle of his chest. The Yin and Yang symbol in the middle with the 8-star pongs around the circle is present for all to see.

All in all, he was no worse for wear.

He knew it was going to be a long day looking for answers, but first thing's first. He had to make sure a certain friend of his was alright too.

"Yo, Virus? You awake buddy?" the boy called out, placing his hand over his chest.

A static-y, echoing, distorted voice could be heard from deep within his soul. The voice seemed to be breaking in and out.

" _ **Chris… sorry…**_ _,_ " it replied back. The voice being playful and youthful in nature, making it sound like it could be either male or female, but sounded tired and hurt.

The voice dwelling within him is his **spirit guardian** of unknown origins. They've met years ago when he was a kid and have be inseparable ever since. He doesn't know much about it as his spirit doesn't or can't seem to reveal everything about it except it is of a higher power and called a **Virakin**.

That, and, Virakins and ECHOES are natural enemies. Their energies collided with one another making them both resistant and effective against each other. Neutralizing each other to gain the upper hand on one another. Like Dragon-type monsters in that monster collecting RPG. Or like the mongoose and cobra in nature.

The spirit, known as Virus, continued in a soft tone, " _ **Ender really… got us good that time. Totally unfair. The cheater. I feel weird as well… our connection is… unstable at the moment.**_ "

The boy could believe it. Whatever trick their foe did to them looked like it messed with their link ratio. Though it's never permanent when this happens, and it sometimes does whenever Ender does something new to catch them off guard. Their powers return eventually after some time as past.

Seriously though. It's like resetting your level back to 1 from 100 or starting a sequel with the same main character except they lose all their skills and powers because of plot convenience. Very annoying, but not the first time this has happen to them.

" _ **I'm going to take a nap… to recharge myself. You're going to be… on your own for a while… partner. Sorry,**_ " Virus apologized. His host could sense how sad the spirit was as it began to drift to slumber.

In a matter of seconds his spirit's presence sank deep within his soul once more.

"Get some rest buddy," Chris gently whispered to his dear friend. With that settled, knowing his friend is okay but disoriented, and having his powers intact albeit weaken greatly it was time to start finding out where he is.

In the distance he could make out a town nearby. An energetic smirk grew on his face as he began to see everything in a different light now.

"Whatever of the case, I love the prospect of traveling to different worlds. It never gets old," he chuckled to himself with a glee glint in his eyes, "For now, it's time get some answers to where I am at least."

Looking around there was a forest on one side of the field and the area looked clean with fresh crisp clean air. Even the grass was bright green, but he felt this world had a different atmosphere. Something was out of place despite everything looking normal.

Including that menacing big blue wolf snarling at him on his right.

…

…

…Wait, what?

He had to do a double take to make sure he saw that right and he was indeed looking at a big bad wolf. His eyes widen in surprise to find the very large blue fox, taller than himself, just a couple of feet away–with a dark purple-colored mist surrounding it–standing a couple of feet away from him. The wolf glaring at him with its glowing red pupils.

"When and where did it…?!" Chris was really great at detecting living beings, but he never would've missed something that big so close much to his confusion. Except it didn't stop there when he noticed a curved green bar above its head. _"Wait, what…?"_

No time to ponder much on it when the wolf charged at him at blitzing speed… except that to Chris the wolf's movement was slow as he easily weaved himself out of the way from is 'fast' attack. The wolf skidded a few feet away on the ground before turning away and growling at red hoodie boy.

He narrowed his eyes at the larger than normal wolf and Chris could tell… something was wrong. It wasn't 'alive' like most living things, but it wasn't dead or a phantom. He couldn't make out what this creature is as he's never encountered something quite like this before.

Before he could figure it out an alarm set off above him. Startling the poor boy as he looked up.

"SPECIAL MINI-BOSS EVENT COMMENCE. ALL CURRENT AND ACTIVATE PARTIES WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LEAVE THE DESIGNATE AREA UNTIL THE BOSS IS DEFEATED," a voice stated that sounded a lot like a game system voice when announcing special events in-game. Usually in RPGs, MMOs, or mobile games.

After that announcement a blue barrier covered the area Chris was with the wolf, effective trapping him with the deranged beast.

He deadpanned with a wryly smile. "Lovely. Just my luck."

He returned his attention back to the wolf as it charged at him once again. He'll figure it out later, but for now he had a fight on his hands.

He jumped on top of the beast's head and bounced off of it like a spring, somersaulting in the air and landed behind it. After causing the wolf to crash into the ground from his jump attack.

Under normal circumstances Chris would be thrilled to partake in battles as he enjoys fighting against strong and/or fun opponents, but now was not the time for it. OK, maybe a little. Finding himself in a challenging situation does bring out his battle frantic side out of him.

He rubbed the bottom of his nose and smirk in anticipation of the fight. This should be a good warm-up match to get his sore body back into gear.

As he stood back to stare at the wolf he noticed something at the top left corner of his view. It was another green bar with a white border and above it was Chris's full name on it, CHRIS CORONA.

Chris nearly blinked owlishly upon seeing that strange sight, but he shrugged it off. Wolf first, mystery later.

The wolf took the opportunity to attack him while distracted and Chris swayed away in the nick of time. Speaking of, the wolf managed to get a cut on his cheek.

Blood was drawn as Chris looked down to see the fresh wound. His green bar barely took a hit and he didn't really feel any pain, but he knew he shouldn't take his chances as the wound started to heal. A small steam evaporating from it as the wound closed post-haste.

"Alright then…"

The wolf circled around the boy, stalking and observing him, while growling as drool dipped from its mouth. The great blue beast roared as it lunged. Aiming for its prey's flank, but Chris anticipated this move and ducked from the incoming swipe.

As if everything went into slow-motion, Chris pivoted his foot on the ground to spin himself around like a tornado and performed a spinning uppercut at blitzing speeds. The force of the uppercut slamming under the chin of the wolf was powerful enough to knock it into the air.

Keeping the momentum of his action the fighter spun around and landed an axe kick to the wolf's snort. Propelling it back into the ground hard. A small crater forming underneath it as Chris landed gracefully on the looking at the world with a big smile on his face.

"Can't huff and puff, ya big bad wolf?" He cockily smirked at the wolf, eyebrow arc in a mocking manner.

The beast got back on all fours in a snap and glared intensely at the boy.

" ***Sigh*** … kinda sucks when you don't get any witty banter back in a fight," he shrugged disappointedly. Can't be helped when you fighting someone or creature that doesn't communicate.

" **WEAPON SHIFT!**!" he called out as his pendant started to glow. The white half of the pendant burst into a stream of digital-like waves as it reformed itself in Chris's left hand. The black hand did the same, going to Chris's right hand. As the two opposite-colored light solidified their forms in Chris's hands, taking the appearance of a long twin buster swords about half the height of Chris, as he rotated them around in a battle stance. One blade black, the other white. Gripping them in reverse style as he readies himself for combat.

"Bring it on," he taunted, smiling, the wolf as it lunged at him.

Chris dodged to the side, but not without slashing an X cross on the side of the wolf's body. There he noticed something immediately weird.

When his swords struck, it didn't leave a 'normal' cut wound with it bleeding slightly. No, the wound had a pinkish glow to it and he could see a pattern in them that looked like cyber frames used for 3D polygons for computer objects.

" _Huh?"_

On top of that, he noticed a good chunk of the curved green bar go down. Normally Chris's weapons were special as they don't really 'kill' or 'harm' his targets as it siphons their energy taking away their stamina to subdue them. He has a strong no kill policy when fighting villains unless deemed otherwise.

"My swords barely did anything?"

The blue canine ignored it as it began to go into a frenzy-like state and twisted away to bite and claw at the dual-sword user. The wolf's claw started to glow black and its claw extended itself for a long close-range attack.

The boy in red quickly sprung into action and hopped away backwards getting some distance from the wolf. However, the creature started to speed up and go crazy with its attacks that they almost looked like blurs. Though with his super sharp reflexes he managed to dodge each and every one of its attacks.

What he didn't realize was his back was almost to the barrier as he continued to dodge the wolf's attacks, only parrying some away when it twisted at near inhuman speed.

When he jumped back once more his back hit the barrier. He wasn't to be stopped in his tracks and think of using the barrier to run up and divebomb the beast. What he _didn't_ take account for was… it electrocuting him painfully.

" _ **GAH!?**_ "

He was shot back a few feet away from the barrier after that. His clothing and his body looking a little fried there a bit, but the regeneration power started to kick and fix everything. He noticed his green bar go down by 10% and was refilling in a few seconds after that. His outfit and self, back to normal.

 _It SHOCKS you? It doesn't even look like it! That's my bad for thinking it was safe!_ He thought angrily to himself. Cursing his luck.

The monster wolf took advantage of the hoodie boy's lapse of balance and pounced on him. Its long claw nearly digging into his left chest.

Chris grunted as he twisted his body around to avoid his chest being completely puncture by the attack. His green bar went down by 40% from that.

"Wha–? But it didn't hurt as bad as the others! Was it because of _where_ it hit my body?" he shouted when he saw that bar. It _had_ to be something important and it seemed like an HP bar from an action RPG. Whatever the case being hitting a fatal spot will spell doom for him. Not that he needed reminded for basic combat 101.

The wolf howled at Chris as he returned his thoughts to the battlefield. The boy glared irritatedly at the beast as he jumped over, spinning his swords in the air and hacking the back of the wolf, as he landed behind it.

He quickly brought his sword up to block the wolf's tail that flickered with dark energy and completely stopped it in its track. Not even glancing at his foe he looked at his left hand–holding the white sword–and frowned.

"This is interesting. My body isn't move as it should and this place," he pondered, not giving the wolf his undivided attention as he wasn't concerned with it anymore. Looking at his chest where he was stabbed, both the low hole in both hoodie, shirt, and body patched themselves up already. He didn't have to worry about the blood coming from the hole, but the gauge was only back to 70% now.

Virakin magic rules.

As the blue beast turned around and growled at the boy for ignoring it and stopping its attack it snapped at him. Having had enough and need to figure out what's going on the young warrior sternly glared at the wolf as he turned to face it.

Chris backflipped several feet away from the wolf to dodge it. The moment his foot touched the ground, he instantly sprinted and slide under the wolf. The length of his blades extended with energies encasing them and the swords cleaved through the wolf's entire body.

A **purple bar** suddenly appeared when he used his **Blade Charge** move and his body started to feel pain.

The wolf's body was split into two and its green bar instantly emptied out. As the bar became emptied the wolf burst into glowing glass shards and the arena vanished as a result. Chris tilted his head upon witnessing what became of his furry foe. That was odd… well not as weird as fighting cosmic beings that like to distorted the world around them.

Also, what was up with that purple bar? It vanished pretty quickly too.

"CONGRAULTIONS. THE SPECIAL EVENT HAS BEEN CLEARED!"

Chris just started in total confusion.

"Well that was bizarre and fun in its own way," the hoodie wearing boy wiped his brow and sighed. He wasn't tired, well he was still weakened from his previous battle with Ender, but he could do without that distraction.

"This is getting curiouser and curiouser. What's going on… _gah_!?"

As he reverted his swords back into his pendant something appeared right in front of him. Causing him to jump back in response.

In front of him was a white semi-transparent screen with black text on it. Something about this seemed familiar. Like out… of a… game…?

 **RESULTS**

 **EXP: 82**

 **COL: 164**

 **ITEM(S): Lesser Healing Potion (x1)**

 **Blue Fox Hide (x2)**

The boy blinked as he studied the screen that popped up in front of him. Indeed, it was something that was straight out of an RPG. The 'wolf' creature he just beat dematerialized, not like a 'real' creature at all which explained how he couldn't feel any life from it. The 'event' he was trapped in, the messages, and the gauges. Nothing in reality did that without someone pulling it off with their unique talents.

The words Ender told him about a 'game' as well echoed in his mind. He realized his not in his own world or dimension right now, obviously, but could this be a different dimension or is he simply inside a game world?

"OK, I'm only going to say this once…"

He took a deep breath and utter one line to sum up his entire thoughts.

" _ **WHERE THE HECK AM I!?**_ "

* * *

After that little episode in the plains, Chris finally figured out a few things before entering the town. Being the expressionate guy that he is during a hand gesture when he vented to the heavens about where he was, a menu screen appeared before him.

He blinked at first and looked at his hand. He closed out of the menu and tried what he did before and found out how to bring it back up again.

Judging by the menu and its option it felt like this was an MMO game he's fallen into or something close to it, but he wasn't sure. Some single-player game had menus like this too.

He took at look at his **Status** on the right side and showed his **level** and **stats**. Apparently, he's level 3 for whatever reason, quite odd to start there, and noticed his stats were… pretty dang high. Normally he should have double digit numbers for his stats, but there were in the triple digits and very close to breaking the 1000 stat point.

He was like a level 1 with level 100 or higher stats. Was it because of his powers, an accurate presentation of his strengths in real life, or was it hacked. Too little info and too many questions. Though considering how _easily_ he took at that wolf mini-boss he's apparently overpowered right now.

Even his **Health Points (HP)** was high as well. Already over 10k for HP and his SP was 300. Though he can't tell if this was the normal level for stats or if he simply had his 'data' altered too much.

Chris wasn't sure how other players would react so he'll keep his stats under wraps for now until he knows what the normal stat levels are.

He's also close to the next level. Probably a couple more mobs to kill he'll level up.

He decided to check his **Equipment** to see the verdict on his gear, if this was an MMO, strong gear is important but he doesn't want to lose his outfit. He really loved his hoodie, because his eldest sister made it for him.

A sub-menu appeared and show his current equipment.

 **Main Weapon (Right Hand and Left Hand)**

 **Viratrix Armament (Dual Swords) Lv. 1**

 **Description:** _A mythical weapon of unknown origins. Indestructible and brimming with divine powers. Capable of transforming into multiple weapons for any situation and endowing the wielder with unrivaled blessings._

 **ABILITY:** Weapon Shift. **Description:** _Allows the weapon to transform into a different weapon and style._

Zero Light Vanish [SEALED]. **Description:** _Instantaneously teleport to where the weapon is._

Recall [SEALED]. **Description:** _Summon back weapon to wielder's hand._

Revert. **Description:** _Return weapon back to into the sealed form of a pendant._

There was more information that stated that he can level up his weapon even further strengthen it to draw out more powers and abilities from it. The basic abilities of his **Viratrix Armament** were still there, though he is missing some like the **Energy Rebound** skill. But others like **Recall** was sealed and he needed to upgrade his weapon further to unseal it.

Gimping his full powers and combos at the moment.

His hoodie was next and it was called ' **Corona Hoodie** ' and the rest of his outfit had the name ' **Corona** ' attached in front of them as well. They focused on defense stats, and like with his weapons, seemed to be average so far. Nothing too powerful, but under the gear it mentioned awakening its full potential by upgrading.

His pendant is called ' **Virilix Pendant** ' instead and ironically, it's his weapon and accessory. Can't remove it as it has a unremovable icon on it. Makes sense as his family pendant was made from a rare ore from another dimension called **Virilix Ores** and only 10 of these pendants were made. Or so it was stated.

He also picked up that his gear is classified as **Divine-Tier** gear. Unique and untradeable.

So, while his entire gear setup is extremely rare and one of a kind, their stats are average at best. Though his stats make up for the long run.

If he was in the starting 'level' of an MMO he can only see some players making a bad deal about it thinking he hacked the game. Well it's not like he _asked_ to be set like this, but he needed to find out what's going on here for Ender to drop him off like this.

Hopefully upgrading his gear doesn't change the look of his outfit or at least keep it as close to his original design as much as possible. He didn't want to change his look and his sister might get angry with him.

Interesting enough there seemed to be a 'glamour' slot on his outfit pieces. Apparently, it said that he can put other equipment there to change the look of his gear without losing the stats of his Corona gear.

That's pretty rad.

Quite be useful in the future if he needed to disguise himself to avoid specific area and in case he got caught his powers will still be there to help.

In his **Item** list he simply only had the items he just got from the mini-boss. His only key item was his pendant as it was special in nature. So far nothing to see here. The hide is material to upgrade gear and he wasn't sure if these only would work on his. The potion… well is kinda useless for him.

Upon looking into his **Skills** menu, he noticed a few interesting things.

 **ABILITY:** Virakin Regeneration (Lv. 1). **Description:** _Near instantaneous regeneration powers that recovers 500 HP per second in battle. Higher level increases the amount recovered._

Ki Manipulation (Lv. 1). **Description:** _Channel the source of all life energy within to manipulate your stats and recover stamina and SP faster._

Ki Sensor (Lv. 1) **Description:** _Allows user to detect both player and enemy signal from 5 yards away. Higher level increases the distance you can pick up their energy signature._

Super Form [SEALED] **Description:** _Transformation skill. Awaken the hidden potential within all humans and multiple all stats by 200-fold. Skill corrupted… error… sealed… cleanse… A!# $..._

Virakin Form [SEALED] **Description:** _Transformation skill. Fuse with the Virakin Spirit within and draw out the power of a super divine being and multiple all stats by 300-fold. Spirit and Soul connection contaminated… error… cleanse… restore… ! S#r4_

There were some other skills, sealed and not, unique to him, but he'll look into those later. It seemed like his unique abilities did get weaken upon entering this strange new world, including his transformation forms. He knew Virus is currently unavailable at the moment because of what Ender did so that makes sense he had no access to his full Virakin abilities.

His super form on the other hand. Perhaps he took more damage than he thought or being in his world and his skills linked here as caused an error to occur meaning he had to figure out how to fix this. So, he's currently gimped at the same time being too powerful.

But underneath his unique skills you read something that worried him.

 **Corruption Gauge**. He didn't know what it meant by corruption, but his powers had the property of a virus so it could be related to that. It seemed to be only tied to his moves and not the game's standard moves like **Blast** and **Power Slash**. It only mentioned that the corruption will damage the user overtime if it fills up and hitting full bar is instant death.

That explained the purple gauge from earlier.

That… that's something he's got to avoid. Apparently, he cannot use his unique skills too many times or for long periods reducing his fighting options even more.

He took a look at his **Ki Manipulation** ability and took note that he can manually alter and lower his stats to the double-digit area where its suppose to be so he can blend in with others so they won't be suspicious on how he's one-shotting all the enemies in the area. There's a minimum cap he can go down to but no further and he can go beyond his current stats too if he wished.

As he tried to raise his stats beyond what they were the Corruption gauge popped up next to him, starling him as a result.

"Eh?!"

" _CORRUPTION GAUGE ENGAGE. BODY MALFUNCTION IMMINENT._ " the system voice spoke up again. His stats were higher, yes, but he was beginning to fill pain throughout his entire body and the gauge filling up with an ominous purple color.

He turned off his skill and panted. It didn't hurt him that much, but it drained him. The corruption gauge slowly dropped until it was no more. It looked to be at the 5% mark and it took a minute for it to empty itself out.

Meaning the higher the gauge the less time he can use his stronger moves. Once the bar was gone the pain went away too. This was high risk and high reward system properly placed exclusively for him. Perhaps increasing the levels of his skills will reduce the damage?

For now, he'll keep his default stats and use the normal skills until he joins others in a party.

"Alright… that was fun," he panted as he wiped the sweat from his brow and chuckled nervously, "Let's not do that again."

Putting that aside for now he looked at the other menus and checked them out, but they were meaningless for now as he doesn't have any **Friends** yet, doesn't know how to form a **Guild** either, and for the most part the **Options** don't need to be tweaked for him.

He had no **Quest** either and the **Map** was semi-useful.

His stomach growled when he looked over the menus. Guess he's still hungers like normal, but how does it work in a video game world like this?

As he arrived at the town he noticed several people around him wearing mostly the same sort of outfit. The starting gear no doubt, but some had different colors. Only a handful had some real gear on to show their progression, but something felt off with the worried and grim looked most of the players don.

Did they all set their Avatar's faces to that look?

However, they were showing a lot of other animated expressions. He needed to learn more about this world.

Now he noticed some of them were looking at him strangely and others were giving him dirty looks like he offended them somehow.

 _What's up with that?_ He thought to himself uncertain while ignore their glares. His outfit wasn't offense in anyway and it was simple in design. He guess he'll look into it later.

By strolling through town, he really gave him the expression of a video game world with the icons hovering appear the NPCs with their name or occupation shown.

Though his inner gamer was showing through and took a look at everything with child-like wonder and awe. If he wasn't digitized against his will, this would be a pretty amazing experience. He was grinning from ear to ear. Perhaps he can come back on his own after he leaves.

Who wouldn't love to enter inside a video game and interact with the world and its people?

However, he quickly put that down as he recalled the grim expressions the players were donning.

First thing's first, he went to a nearby stall that obvious had food items for sale and managed to buy some bread and water there. It seemed convoluted with how the menus were set up. Good thing Chris had played other MMO in the past so he knew a good deal how to play these types of games.

He spent some of his Col that he got from the wolf, but he had more than enough but didn't overspend. He got the consumables he needed and stored in his Item List.

Once he finished his purchase from the NPC clerk and took it out, as it appeared in thin air in front of him, and he examined it. It looked normal for the most part and devoured it. Tasted kinda blah, but it was enough to sate him.

But food is food, it should taste good no matter what. He believed these Avatars can't taste them, but he found it insulting that the food had such a bland taste to it. He internally sighed, their lucky they don't have to deal with it, but he enjoyed eating and this is making it harder for him to stay.

It can recover HP, but his hunger is more important. Apparently, there's no hunger gauge so he has to be careful not to starve in this world. He's not an Avatar like everyone else. He's physically inside the game world itself he surmised himself. He doesn't know what will become of him if his HP hits 0 or else.

Respawn? Stay down until someone revives him? Return to the last save point?

As he went through the town and the people, he hoped he could find out what he needed to know without causing too much suspicions. His outfit made him stand out like a sore thumb already as his outfit is more modern in appearance and everyone else had a more medieval look.

Plus he wasn't making him a tad uneased when some folks threw vengeful looks his way. What crime did he commit?

At least he took a look at the basic tutorial from the **Help** menu earlier to get the gist of how this game works so he doesn't appear completely clueless to his situation.

As he wandered about he came across a couple of people hurdle around their friend as he looked depressed about something. Sitting on the bench while clenching his head. He seemed to be at his wits' end.

"Why… why did this happen?" he muttered quite loud enough for anyone passing by could hear. "It shouldn't be like this. This was supposed to be a fun game, not a death sentence!"

 _Death sentence?_ Chris thought as he overheard what the player was saying with his two buddies by his side.

"There's no use to complaining about it now, you know?" the thin guy dressed with blue coloring said to him, "Though it's not like I can blame ya. It's too crazy to go out there knowing what's going to happen to us."

The other friend, an overweight guy in pink, chipped in his thoughts as well, "Yeah. I scrounge up all of my allowances to buy the most sought out game in the world only for this to happen. Not to mention we already lost a good number of people already."

 _Hmm…_ the boy in the red hoodie pondered. He's not getting a clear picture yet so the best method is to approach them to dig up more intel. Though he'll have to come off as vague as possible as to not tip them off he's… not in the knowhow like everyone else was.

"I know, but it's hopeless!" the depressed player exclaimed as he began to cradle his head.

Seemed like a good opportunity to intervene. He couldn't stand to see someone looking down after all.

"Hey now, there's no reason to give up yet," Chris approached the trio as all three of them turned their heads to the newcomer. "Despite what's happened to us we got to stay strong and focus on the task at hand. I know there's a way out of this mess."

The depressed player didn't seem like he cheered up at all and looked at Chris apathetically, "I wish I was as optimistic as you buddy, but we've been trapped in this death game for two weeks already! There's 100 floors to clear and we're still stuck on floor 1!"

"I'm aware of that."

Now he was that is.

Chris continued as he looked directly in the player's eyes, "But every step is progress. We have to take it nice and slow. Every new information, every level, skill, and equipment we get will make it easier to beat this game and get us out."

With the little info he's got so far that seems to be right and their expressions didn't hint he was mistaken.

Chris made a crestfallen expression as he looked down, "At least for the players who we lost so their death aren't in vain."

The trio flinched. They get where he's coming from, really, they do. It's just they don't feel like they're doing anything yet.

"I know," the thin guy in pink said, "We lost 2000 players already. No one expected the _Nerve Gears_ we bought for the world's first VRMMO would end up killing us. It's still crazy to think that if we die in the game we die in real life by having the Nerve Gear fry our brains when our HP hits 0. We don't feel pain thank god, but I can't get over it."

"That is indeed true," Chris twitched uncomfortably. That's messed up, it couldn't put them in a coma at least? If there were still here for two weeks so far, "But we can't exactly wait around for outside help. If they haven't found a solution in two weeks to get us out we need to do what we can on our end to get out. We can't wait around and hope a miracle happens to save us all."

The thin guy sighed and ruffled his hair, "I know. We've been praying someone outside would get us out, but it's really no use. SAO operates on the most advance security system out that no hacker has been able to crack and it constantly improves itself over time. There's no much we can do on our end either when we're too scare to go out there with the chance of death looming around."

 _So, everyone here is on their own? This is getting more problematic the more I hear it…_

"Not to mention all of the Beta Testers ran off to the good spots when **Sword Art Online** turned into a death game no less!" the big guy dejectedly opened his mouth, "They left all the new players hanging so we couldn't get the good gear and grind spots."

 _Beta Testers? So, there was a beta version of the game without death. Not to mention this Nerve Gear… and they said VRMMO. I believe the VR could stand for Virtual Reality so that means these Nerve Gear stimulate the senses to immense the players in this world. So, I am indeed inside an MMO game and it's called Sword Art Online. Why this one though?_

"I understand your frustration. I never played the Beta version of this game and that did seem really wrong for them to do that, but are you sure they did it for selfish reasons?" Chris asked the trio as the looked at him strangely.

He needed info, yes, but he wanted to try to cheer them up.

"If I were a Beta Tester and knew the good and dangerous stuff and know how to handle it himself I would go ahead to make sure to clear those spots to check if they're still good. Not to mention to make sure nothing new was added to make life harder for new players if they encountered something out of their league," Chris looked back the trio, "Surely you must've noticed that people learned new things and know where to go after to catch up right? I can't say all had noble intentions, but surely some new players had an easier time at one point no?"

The trio pondered and the depressed player spoke up first, "Now that you mentioned it, yeah. I noticed these pamphlets at shops recently that detailed some of the keener parts of the game and has helped us out a lot. I don't think a newbie would be able to make sure detailed notes so quickly. Even some higher-level mobs that were suppose to be nearby are no longer a threat. Until their respawn timer resets."

"See," the black-haired boy smiled at them, "They might have some hidden agenda, but deep down they're trying to help in their own way. We are all in this together regardless. No point in fighting for ourselves. Plus, if the stronger players get wiped out because they didn't help the lower-level players get stronger it would screw everyone over in the long run. So, we got to put this competitive nature underfoot for the time being. I'm not going to let people die if I can help it."

"Yeah, I guess your right about that," the depressed player smiled a little. Looking better. "We can't fight amongst ourselves, but I feel like it's going to be inevitable."

"Right, the newbies are going to made it a big deal with the beta testers and take their angry out on them. I really see no point to it," the thin guy said his spirits down at the thought.

Chris sighed with concern. He hoped there's no PK system in this world. These players had it rough as it is, "Speaking of… I can't wrap my head over what the creator was thinking."

He was gambling here, but if the producer, developer, and creator of this game knew about the Nerve Gear's lethal features and then trapped the players here intentionally… he can't figure out why he would do that. To create a new world and have only selected individuals join but with the dangerous of death looming over their heads?

He needed to know.

"Yeah… no one knows why **Akihiko Kayaba** did this," the depressed player told Chris like it was common knowledge, "He summoned all the players to Town of Beginning after most of us discovered there was no Logout button to exit the game. He appeared and explained this was an intended feature and SAO became a death game. Only told us how to clear it and went his merry way."

He looked like he was going to have a panic attack again. Chris pitied these players. They bought a new MMO that had VR features to it with probably the latest technology and this happened to them. No one deserved this. He can suspect there were even children in this game too and that made his blood boil.

No matter what his reasons were he couldn't forgive Akihiko Kayaba for endangering people's lives like this. Even young children.

He did his best not to show his angry at the prospect by steadying his clenching hands and gritting teeth. He wore his emotions on his sleeves too much as his family and friends back home said.

Chris finally got his answers he was searching for, but he wasn't happy about it. Luckily his source wasn't that hard to get the info from.

"I hear ya," Chris scratched the back of his head irritated by the revelations, "Still, you guys take it easy. I'm going back to the fields to level up. I got to be ready beat the first floor when we find the spot to clear it from. I'm going to do my part to get everyone out of here safely."

The trio looked thankfully for his words.

"We appreciate though, but honestly dude, we can't just trust you or your words when things are the way they are," the depressed player faltered again, "Everyone confident said that, but ended up dying anyway. We'll take it easy, but I can't believe your words. Not yet."

The boy in red winced. Sure, they didn't know him, but it kinda hurt he wasn't able to fully cheer him up or get him out of his funk.

"Don't worry, we'll take it easy like you said," the big guy trying to lighten the mood, "We'll think of something to do to help as well. Just can't die let ourselves die out there. Beating the **Floor Boss** is going to take every great player out there if we want to clear the first floor. You seem like a nice guy so I rather not see another person die, alright? I already lost a couple of my friends."

"Just another thing we noticed too," the big guy motioned to Chris, "But apparently some of the monsters out in the field have been acting… sporadically and erratic lately."

"Sporadically?" what did he mean by that.

The guy shook his head, "We don't know. All we know is that monsters sometimes get this weird purple mist around them and eyes glow red and their stat seem to increase as well. Not to mention they seem to go into a frenzy with no provocation whatsoever. Just thought to let you know. Not many people know about it yet."

 _Just like the wolf._

Chris nodded in thanks and turned away. Waving with his back facing them as he walked away with distant smile on his face.

It was more education than he thought, but at the same time he felt discouraged he wasn't much help. He isn't famous here or anything like that so he's just another player to them.

But he has to turn this around. For them at least.

He was already out of earshot from them before the trio spoke amongst themselves again.

"Come to think of it," the thin player spoke up as he realized something, "Did you noticed his outfit? I don't think those were normal gear."

"Oh, you're right!" the big guy realized too, "He must've gotten it from those **Special Events** that has been happening a lot lately. They happen at random intervals and location you have to be super lucky to encounter one even though they're tough to beat. No one's really sure why though."

"Really?" the depressed player exclaimed.

"Yeah. I heard some of the Special Events even drop special gear that change your appearance and have special glamour slots on them so you can keep their looks while wearing stronger gear," the thin guy recalled as he seemed dejected, "Oh man, I wish we could get those items. I heard one of them gives you an **elven** appearance from SAO's upcoming companion game, ALO. Don't even know if it will come out after this mess…"

"Lucky…"

Chris wasn't aware of that little tidbit as he walked away already. Unbeknownst to him, however, someone was watching him since he started talking to the trio.

Taking a chance with him the person followed him as he made his way out of Town of Beginning.

"Um… e-excuse me!"

"Hmm?" hearing a voice Chris stopped in his tracks and turned away.

Before him was a girl. She had green eyes and shoulder length dark brown hair wearing the standard female starting outfit.

"Can I help you?" the boy politely asked the female player.

"Yes, um… I'm sorry I overheard your conversation with those boys from earlier," the girl bashfully started. She seemed a little shy and unsure of herself, "But I heard you were going back out to the fields to level up some more after trying to cheer them up. I know this seems rude, but… can you help me level up with you?"

Chris tilted his head. He wasn't expecting to form a party so soon and someone approaching him about it no less. Hopefully he didn't give himself away too much, but it didn't seem like the girl was being suspicious of him or anything… plus he said he wanted to get everyone out of this death game.

Helping them get stronger is one way. There's no reason to decline her request.

"I don't see why not. Sure, let's party up!"

Chris almost blushed when he saw the sparkles in her eyes when he accepted her request.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I've been trying to find some people to party with, but no one seemed interested or already had a full party," she clasped his hands in hers.

"Um… no worries," he nervously chuckled while glancing away. This was getting a little embarrassing when many players were looking in their direction. Though it's mostly he wasn't sure how to deal with girls coming close into his personal space, except his sisters but they're family. He began to blush the longer she held his hand.

Dating is not his forte and he turns into a fidgeting fool when thinking about it.

"Oh right… sorry," she let go and stepped back looking embarrassed.

He brushed if off, not really bothered by it, "No worries, but before that."

He pondered about it for a second and he saw no harm in what he was going to do. All the help they can get, right?

A prompt appeared in front of her as she saw what it was.

 **Chris Corona has sent you Friend Request**.

She looked back at him, surprised etched on her face.

"You're my first friend here in this world. Best to keep in contact to help each other out, right? Looking forward to working with you," Chris held out his hand. A cheery smile looking at her.

She smiled blissfully as she shook her new friend's hand, "Likewise."

Soon after Chris invited her into her party and they both set off to level up. She was a spear user it seemed. On the top left corner of Chris's view, he saw his party increase by one and noticed her name displayed too.

" **Koharu**? That's your name, huh? It's pretty cute."

The girl blushed when he complimented her like that.

The boy started chuckled. He might end up teasing her a lot if she kept on making expressions like that. He might be nervous sometimes, but it doesn't stop him from teasing people he likes.

* * *

Another boar enemy shattered into a ray of glass after Koharu's spear strike it dead center. She gained another level from the short time she traveled with Chris and he gotten to know her a bit.

She's one of the Beta Testers for SAO, but she wasn't really good at the game not fully understanding the mechanics of the game. Chris wasn't expert as it's day one for him here, but a quick read of the tutorials and his own martial knowledge he was able to help her improve her game drastically. He let her do most of the fighting so she could build her confidence up.

During the last day of the beta she managed to meet another Beta Tester named **Kirito** and helped her a bit, but he seemed kinda distant to her though he was still nice to her. She was hoping to run into him again, but no such luck. Chris doesn't know who that was but learned there's a plaque in the Town of Beginnings that list the names of all 10,000 players trapped in the game.

Koharu looked at the plaque, sadden to see so many players fallen already, but was shocked to learn that Kirito was not on the list anywhere. A little happy he's alright, a little sad he's not here.

Chris deduce that he either never got a copy of the game and someone got the copy instead. Only 10,000 copies were released and all slots filled up. Except for him of course. He showed up after two weeks that the game had started and she never looked at the plaque after the first day.

Back to Koharu she managed to get to level 4 while Chris had gotten to level 6. He regained one of his old skills, or unsealed it to use, and it was his **Dark Impulse** move. However, just like with his other unique moves it had a Corruption Gauge too and it had the highest fill rate compared to the rest. He can't use this unless absolutely necessary.

He looked like he might have to level up his skills first before he could actual use it in combat, but he needed to use it to gain EXP for his skills. So, he prayed he got another skill somewhere to lessen how much corruption he generates. It's pointless to have his skills if he can't even use them.

In the meantime, he'll have to keep his unique skills hidden from other players in the meantime. No need to cause arguments over cheating in an MMO.

Especially a death game one.

Speaking of he noticed something very important and dangerous to himself. When one of the boars managed to hit him in the arm, lowering his stats so he doesn't kill them right away, it went numb for a bit with slight bleeding and a status debuff appeared.

Koharu expressed concern over it as she recalled the boar enemies don't have any debuff moves on them. Chris panicked a bit trying to play it off it was his gear that had a drawback to it for be stronger than the normal gear he got from a Special Event. She seemed to buy it but looked doubtful in a way.

Luckily the blood stopped when his healing kicked in so she didn't notice.

Back on topic he realized that if an enemy were to cut his head off or get stabbed in the heart he most likely instantly dies on the spot regardless if he has full health or not. Unlike other players the dangers are much higher for him and he'll have to trend more careful with his gimped moves.

Speaking of moves–

"You've been getting really good at your spear skills, impressive Koharu," Chris noted as he watched Koharu finished off the last of the mob in the enemy with that thrust to its skull. Her accuracy has gradually improved when they began fighting the low-level monsters after he gain her a few pointers.

The girl stumbled in place at being praised. "I've still got a long way to go, but I feel slightly more confident in my skills now."

He nodded in agreement. There's always something to improvement.

"True, but every step counts. But, soon you'll be doing some crazy stuns like spinning a spear above your head," Chris demonstrated by twiddling his fingers above his head pretending to spin a spear, acting all serious about it. "And then strike downward, feinting your foe," throwing both his arms down in animated motion, "Then thrust upward going 'HI-YAH'," shouting aloud as he dug his foot down and shot his arms forward. "And striking a cool pose at the end. It's so much fun, dontcha think?"

He looked back at her after his display of spearing handling. A goofy dorky smile on his face as he looked at her expectantly, twinkles in his eyes.

She giggled at his adorable antics. He's like a little kid.

"You're really something, Senpai," Koharu voiced her astonishment at how quickly Chris took down his enemies. More accurate and faster than Kirito back in the beta.

"Senpai?" he was confused at why she started to call him that. He folded his arms and looked at her curiously.

"Oh sorry," she fiddled her fingers and bashfully looked away, "It's just that, you've been a great teacher and been helping me out when you didn't have to. Usually forming parties divides the EXP and Col between the members so you get less, but people need to work again and not be selfish," she glanced back at him with a worried look, "Still… if you want… I'll stop saying it."

He blinked. He didn't mean to make her upset, "Oh, no. No, it's no trouble at all. If you feel comfortable calling me that, good ahead. I don't mind at all."

He smiled at her with that casual and friendly look on his face with his arms behind his head. He really is a nice person.

"Oh! Thank you Senpai!" Koharu smiled warmly.

He nodded. Well as long as she's happy and doing alright, it's fine in his book. Though there's 100 floors in this place. He's got to find a way to clear this ASAP, but a thought lingered in his mind. What will become of him should he clear the 100th floor? He's physical trapped in this world so clearing it might end up killing him.

So, death by winning, death by losing when HP hits 0, death by starving. Plus, this is his flesh and blood body in an electromagnetic world, so his mental and physical state will deteriorate later down the line if he stuck here too long. Sheesh another way for him to perish he morbidly thought with an unsettling smile.

"Though Senpai," Koharu spoke up, stirring him away from his dark thoughts, "I'm kinda curious. You used the Nerve Gear, right? Patting your body down to have it calibrate itself to your gender, height, weight, and appearance. So, was your hair always like that or did you use one of those appearance altering accessories in the game?"

Huh? So that means what all the players look like their real-life appearance? That explained so much on how unique looking everyone was to him. Another bit of information he's learned about this reality.

"My hair," he gently pinched a streak of his hair. She's talking about his **natural** highlights. People have asked him about it, but he along with his sisters were born with highlights.

He shook his head and gave her a bemused smile, "Oh no… my hair is _natural_ like this. A genetic mutation that caused my hair to fade out in a snow-white color. I'm surprised it's like this in this game myself."

"Really?" she seemed quite surprised, "That's sounds incredible. People usually pay a lot of money to highlight their hairs, but yours is natural. I'm a little jealous."

The boy in the red hood chuckled.

"You're also impressive fighting out there, I wish I had your confidence and talent," Koharu chimed enviously as she kicked the dirt on the ground.

He smirked, "Well I had years of practice studying martial years and sword arts from my mentors."

"Really? In real life?"

"Yup. Thought I try it here, though honestly," he said when his eyes shone with excitement and glee when he began to talk, "It really gets my blood all pumped up when I think of facing stronger opponent. Nothing is more fun they fighting with everything you got against a mighty foe."

He started to throw many quick jabs in sessions in place as he thought about fighting huge monsters and exploring vast dungeons. If this wasn't a death game he'd would have a ton of fun with this place.

Koharu giggled when she saw him like that with that child-like smile on his face, "You really like to fight, don't cha? You're actually quite silly."

"I-I'm not that silly," Chris coughed into his hand and looked away embarrassed. "It's just… well… OK, maybe I'm a _little_ bit silly." He relent sheepishly and to emphasized his point he showed how little he meant by pinching the air with his fingers while rubbing the back of his head.

Koharu giggled once more. He's really a funny person.

"Just what kind of person are you Senpai?"

"Me? Nobody special… just a guy who loves adventures, fighting all kinds of challenges, and making new friends," he threw his hands behind his head as he smiled brightly.

"Speaking of fighting, could you also tell me how you unlocked that dual-wield skill? I think you're the first player to use two swords at once!"

"Huh? Wait–! That's not something you can have right off the bat?"

She titled her head in confusion, "Well… of course. Didn't you know that?"

Amidst their talking a group of players were heading back to town in the direction where Chris and Koharu were in. They seemed to have a Samurai motif theme going on with their beginning armor. Their leader had red-hair and wore a bandana and took notice of the pair some ways in front of them.

"Huh? A couple of players out grinding?"

Both Chris and Koharu turn their attention on the upcoming group of players as their leader gave them welcoming wave.

"Oh, salutations," Chris responded with courtesy, "You heading back to town?"

"Yeah," he answered back, "We got close to level 10 so we're done for the day, but it's becoming a big pain in the butt to level around these parts after level 5. We're getting low on supplies and it's getting dark to boot. That's when the strong monsters show up."

 _Strong monsters?_ Chris's eyes lit up with interested.

"I hear ya. Got to level 6 a short while ago, it's getting to a slug roll earning EXP even if the enemies go down fast with a party," Chris agreed with him. He got to level 4 fairly easy and 5 so after, but level 6 took a little longer as the EXP required jumped up big and the enemies weren't giving enough.

Not to mention the jump from level 4 to 6 barely increased his stats. Actually, they almost didn't even increase at all. Looked like just leveling up was only unlocking skills for him, he needed to upgrade his gear to boost his stats higher.

And considering the materials he needed for that he's going to have these stats for a long while for several floors if the past the first one soon enough.

He chuckled in agreement, "Absolutely buddy."

"The name's Chris and this is my friend, Koharu," Chris gestured to the two of them and lend out his hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meetcha. Name's Klein and this is my guild and close friends, **Fuurinkazan** ," he returned the gesture with a handshake.

"H-Hello! It's nice to meet you too, Uncle Klein," Koharu bow bashfully.

"Uncle?! I'm not that old!"

Chris decided to mess with him a little, his eyes twinkled with mischief and smirked playfully. "You sure? That chin beard you're sporting ages you quite a bit."

"What?!"

"It's true boss."

"Not you too!"

Everyone started to laugh and soon Klein joined in on the fun too.

One of his teammate decided to speak up from here, "So what are you two planning on doing? The sun's going to set soon and the enemies will be much harder to deal with. You should come back with us to town until tomorrow."

"Hmm," Chris pondered. On one hand he knew he can handle himself because of his broken stats, but he can't let anyone know that… yet. He needed to make sure to find people he can truly trust here first. On the other hand, he can't put Koharu in dangerous just for some numbers. Even if he _wanted_ to test his mettle against stronger foes.

Slow and steady here.

Still he preferred to hear his teammate's opinion.

"I suppose you're right, but Koharu want do you think?" the black-haired boy looked over to his comrade.

"Wha–? Me?" she was taken aback by her friend's permission.

"Yeah. I'm here helping you out getting stronger, so I want you to decide what you want to do," he spoke to her encouragingly, "If you want to head back, I'm head back with you. If you want to stay a little longer to grind, I'll stay and help you. It's your call."

No one has ever asked her for her opinions before. It was kinda scary and startling to her, but it made her happy. Someone valued what she thought. She didn't have a lot of friends growing up, but Chris is definitely quickly becoming one of her best friends.

She's aware he's out here with her on her request so she can get stronger and escape this _Death Game_ , but she doesn't want to endanger him or make it seem like he owed her. But she knew him just enough that he was a loyal and true friend. She can trust him.

"Well… I want to continue grinding for a while longer," she openly declared.

Chris smiled, "There's your answer. We'll be hunting some more enemies before heading back."

"You're sure?" Klein folded his arms in concern. It's nice that they're looking out for each other, but it's not that safe of a place here. "Look I'm not trying to put you down or anything, but at your levels those nighttime monsters will be an issue. You sure you're OK with that?"

"Positive," no hesitance in Chris's voice.

The Fuurinkazan group presently gave him an owlish look. It wasn't that he was overconfident or cocky, but his tone was serene and assuring. They got the feeling he's someone you can count to watch your back.

"If things get worse, we'll run as fast as we can. Plus, I'll stuck close to the starting areas at least so we're not too far from the Town of Beginning."

"Well, if you're sure," Klein could tell he wasn't going to budge and looking at the girl next to him giving the redhead that steely look in her eyes as well. There's no stopping them.

"Alright then."

"You sure, boss?"

"It's fine. I have feeling these two will be ok," Klein smiled at them and then opened up his menu, "Hold on a sec. Take these with you."

 **You have received Potent Healing Potions (x10) from Klein**

"Huh!? Are you sure we can have these?" Koharu exclaimed at the kind gesture the guild leader did for them. These were expensive healing potions at their level and both Chris and she got 10 each.

"Don't worry, my team and I well be able to get more soon enough. I just can't leave you guys alone with nothing to back you up in case things go south. Not to mention the new frenzy monsters that started showing up."

Everyone grimaced at that. They were luckily to not run into one of them yet, but both Beta Testers and veteran MMO players were easily taken out by them.

"I rather we go out with ya both, but we're about to run out of healing items and we're plum tuckered out from doing quests and grinding all day," the redhead explained with exhaustion glossed in his eyes.

Chris stared at him with an unreadable expression, but then broke into a small smile.

"Thanks," he thanked him knowing he's someone he can trust and knew was a good guy looking out for others. He opened up his menu and tapped a few of the options.

Klein looked on wondering what he was doing, until a prompt showed up in front of him.

 **Chris Corona has sent you a Friend Request.**

Knowing what he did, she joined in too.

 **Koharu has sent you a Friend Request.**

"Let's stay in contact with each other. We're in this together to get out of this game, right?"

Klein smiled as he accepted his request, "Sure thing pal! When I started the game, I had to ask a few players around what to do as I couldn't find anyone skilled enough to give him the finer pointers of the game. Everyone was kinda rude at the start."

The pair nodded.

"So, give me a holler if you're in a dungeon or need help with anything. I'll make sure to keep as many players alive in this game… we lost too many already."

"Yeah…" he muttered sadly.

"Alright. Well stay safe you two and keep in touch!" Klein waved goodbye as the group parted ways.

"So… shall we resume leveling up Koharu?"

She answered him back quirkily. "Y-Yes! Please teach me everything you know Senpai!"

He shook his head and sigh. Her stuttering was kinda adorable. He wondered if he should tease her about that or not?

As Klein were heading back to town, one of his guildmates and friend spoke up, "Anyone notice his appearance? You think he got that outfit from those odd Special Events popping up recently?"

"Maybe, but I'm not sure. The design of his outfit is too… modern. I don't know about him, he seemed suspicious. Like he knows more than he lets on. I can't say he's a bad person, but I don't fully trust him. What do you think boss?"

Klein rubbed his chin, "Hmm… I don't know. What I do know is that I feel like having someone like Chris around will make things better in the long run. Call it a gut feeling."

The others looked at each other. Sure, that guy in red looked reliable and friendly, but there was something off about him. Klein didn't seem to mind, but with all the strange things happening lately they need every able-bodied skilled players out there.

Death is just around the corner.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere hidden in a dark room with multiple monitors showing going on in SAO, a certain figure is seen hovering above the ground watching. The being was laid-back and yawned as it noticed the events going on in SAO.

It discovered this world during its Dimension Hopping or Sliding downtime and took note of this particular world and timeline. It also this world's designate hero **failed** to enter SAO so it took it upon itself to _correct_ that anomaly.

By kidnapping his arch-nemesis of course! And throwing in here against his will knowing his compassionate side and morals will propel him to save everyone.

And it will get to enjoy the show with front row seats. But it's no fun if he's weak, so it hacked the game to connect Chris's powers and sync them up to the server so he'll have access to them still. Though him being OP and killing everything in sight is equally boring. Can't be helped… they're programs and not one of its kind.

SAO in its entirety is under its control. Not even Akihiko Kayaba is not in control anymore, but its letting him think that for the time being.

It's a good thing he tested if it could digitize people properly into this world by placing an old rival and friend of Corona's into this world 3 days before he did the same to him. Though he was placed a few floors higher.

Still it should be interesting to see where this would good. Those poor people have _no_ idea of the fun awaiting from them when they find the boss room on each floor. Chris is going to be needed on most of them, but not all. It prefers to give at least some sporting chance for everyone else.

Perhaps some ice cream as a reward? Or nails on a chalkboard.

Its thoughts began to become erratic again, but it can't be help with having a random and chaotic mind.

"So, what's the plan?" a voice called out from behind the one watching the monitor.

Its yellow eyes never looked away from the screens, "Nothing right now. We're just waiting for the right moment to really join in the fun. Until then, no plan, and we're just chilling in this room for a while."

"That's lame, echo."

"I know, I agree," its eyes harden in disapproval of waiting too long, "But patience is a virtue and all good things come to those who wait. And trust me… it's going to be a blast when it does."

Its friend clicked its tongue in amusement, "Yup. But it's going to suck waiting for it to happen."

"Mmhmm… what of that **health care unit** or something or other that was part of the system?"

The other one blinked, "Oh, _her_? Currently in stasis. She's an advance AI and will continue to grow as she learns about the players. So, it would be a shame to erase her. Or with her creator just locking her up like that. What do you think? Want to let her out?"

The leader rubbed the bottom of its face with its long claw-like fingers, "Hmm… not right now. Once they reach Floor 3 you can release her with her memories intact. Make sure she'll appear in the area Chris is going to be in. I want her to be taken in under his wing, echo."

"Alright, boss, I got you covered," it smiled sinisterly as it tilted its fedora down, covering half of its face. "Though I got to ask, why are we bothering with this again? This world's lack of highly destructive beings doesn't seem all that interesting."

A weird and owlish expression donned the leader's face, "Well in this timeline, everyone is most likely going to die. Seemed really unfair so I decided to give them a helping hand to get out it by bringing our arch-nemesis here to save them. I couldn't let that happen… plus mixing in a bit of our own chaotic touch would make things _far_ more fun in my humble opinion."

"Indeed," the other nodded with their logic, "I can't stand when other humans harm other humans… only we get to do that."

"Of course. We're ECHO Monsters," the leader smirked, "Speaking of? We still up for our activities?"

"I'll let the others know. Oh, we still up for that cotton blasting contest?"

"Of course… I'm always up for a good brawl among my fellow brethren," it smiled cheerily.

"Looking forward to it. We got to entertain ourselves without going stir-crazy in this place," the fedora-wearing monster said.

"Glad to see we're on the same page, echo," it smiled in agreement.

For creatures such as these it's a daily thing to be chaotic and random at times. It's how they have fun in life.

"Make sure the AI is comfy. No need to cause undue stress for her. You're dismissed **ECHO Click**."

"As you command, **ECHO Ender**."

The one known as Click as left the dark room leaving only Ender alone. A creepy and blood lusting smile etched on its feature.

This world never had anything magical or supernatural exist in this reality at all.

Except now that is.

And, boy, it's going to be a **HELL** of a party!

But first, cookies and black tea.

* * *

 _ **Level 2 Preview:**_ Looks like Chris is getting a handle of the new world he's in, but he's far from getting where he needs to be to actual help the trapped players in their new digitally home. A good thing he's a gamer on top of being a warrior with access to his (limited) supernatural powers.

In the midst of unlocking his sealed skills and abilities he runs into a cast of interesting characters. Specifically, a purple-haired sword-wielding girl and a tall dark-skinned axe wielder man stuck in a dungeon with a corrupted monster with glitches for its powers.

Time to make new friends and cause some chaos!

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm back with another story and I hope you enjoyed it! I wasn't going to write a super long chapter like some of my other stories so I wanted to keep it on the short side, but I hope that I gave at least a lot of details still in this story.**

 **I've never written a story on SAO or MMOs in general before and I've forgotten how the first season went for SAO so I'll have to look it up in my spare time when I can. I hope I did good and kept everything lore intact. There… doesn't seem to be a detailed list on the items in the series, anime and manga, and other features of the MMO.**

 **If there's anything out of place or I got something wrong, please let me know so I can fix it.**

 **Anyway, onto the fanfic I hope you don't mind my OC. He's overpowered in nature, but I wanted a way he can display his super powers without being nerfed too much. I guess it's silly for him being concerned with what other players think, but he's in a new and hostile and he doesn't want to shake the bee hive here.**

 **I have his skills and abilities linked up to the game itself so he still has access to them but limited at the moment. Though if he does access his strongest ones, he'll be in a surprise of how dangerous it will be for other players. We'll have to wait and see.**

 **I added in the Corruption Gauge as I played around with the idea in my mind as his Virakin powers are like a virus in nature so having it serve as a drawback using adds an interesting twist. Not to make him overly reliant on his powers I wanted some danger especially with him weaken as he is.**

 **And adding new danger I included the threat of the digital world with its electromagnetic field it has, which is something I borrowed from dothack/Link. With the threat of someone staying too long in an electromagnetic field would be hazardous for his physical and mental life like I read from the translation notes. So, he's got a time limit on top of other options to off him so he might have a year or two to live and he'll die if he takes too long. The player luckily don't share his fate.**

 **Speaking of players, I've decided to add in the new character from the recent mobile game, SAO: Integral Factor, Koharu. I quite like her so far, but I only played a little bit of the game so I might've forgotten how she acted in the game but she seemed quite soft-spoken and reserved. I hope I did her justice here. I hope you guys like her.**

 **For the record this story WILL have a Harem and here's the planned girls to join, but I'm not going to rush the relationship and get them to slowly get closer to. If you people wish to know let me know. Not all the girls and I might cut some out of harem… probably only the game characters will be in.**

 **Also, Kirito DOES exist in this world, like I pointed out, but he won't appear that much. He's role is different here. He's still alive if you're wondering but he's not the main focus. I hope you don't mind that Chris is more sociable and outgoing than Kirito.**

 **As for ECHO Ender, I know what he looks like but it's hard to describe what he looks like. I'll try to draw him and post a picture of him on Deviantart so everyone can see what he's like. Though for an idea of what he kinda looks like, Ender's upper body is like RiseGreymon and the belly is like Jehuty. The shoulder pads are like Zero's from MMX. Arms similar to MegaGargomon with claw-like hands. A tail similar in appearance of Mecha Frieza with legs like Nu's battle form from BlazBlue.**

 **Ender even has blasters inspired by Starscream from Transformers Armanda, though on his back instead of on top of its body. Wings like the Vic Viper from Zone of the Ender too. Its head is just a normal round shape but has a helmet design that's a cross between Model A from ZXA and KOS-MOS's from Xenosaga 3. Complete yellow eyes and a mouth. No nose. Has a skinny neck.**

 **Entirely jet-black body with some grey coloring here and there, and few white colors too.**

 **Much better if I drew it, but this is the basic idea of what Ender looks like and its height is between 6 – 7 foot tall. Ender is going to be a major Antagonist in the story, but Ender is not the only one.**

 **Basically, the nature of the ECHO Monsters is an** **amalgamation** **of many series of wacky characters rolled into one. Freakzoid, Discord, the Animanicsm, and Kid Buss is where the ECHOES share their craziness with and bizarre natures. Still ironing them to get them to be where I want them to be.**

 **Still I wanted to write a SAO fanfic for a while and I hope the first chapter is good enough.**

 **I want to give a big shout out to my friend, Kenshin.503, for encouraging to make this fanfic and Storm VII for that epic BlazBlue and SAO crossover story. I recommend you go read them on , both the original and reboot stories. They're quite good and what help me begin thinking of making my own version with original characters.**

 **Though the other story idea was different and no supernatural elements in it at all. My friend suggested it so I could do that story idea one day where the OC is a childhood friend of Suguha and joined Kazuto in the beta of SAO and the game itself. A virus infected the game called the "ECHO" happens and things go about it differently.**

 **I don't know if my story will be any good, but I'll do my best. Any feedback is appreciated so I can improve the quality of the story and characters.**

 **Until next time, this is VirusChris signing off! Sayonara my Nakama! Laters!**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any Sword Art Online except for my own original characters, lore, and setting.**

 **Time Stamp Started:** May 21, 2018

 **Time Stamp Finished:** May 24, 2018

 **Time Stamp Posted:** May 24, 2018

 **UPDATE DATE:** May 24, 2018 (11:15am)

 **UPDATE DATE 2:** May 25, 2018 (finally remembered a part of a scene I wanted in but forgot)

 **UPDATE DATE 3:** May 27, 2018 (alright this I'm making sure is my last update. A few fixes and more addition dialogue)

I tweaked his abilities a bit more, nerfing them so he's not too overly powerful here. Not to mention adding in a few things so Chris doesn't come across off as generic. I REALLY wish not try to write my stories past midnight and when I'm exhausted. Really can't think clearly enough and finally put in something I forgot to add in the earlier version. It's not easy to balance an OP character and nerf him in a reasonable a way, but I'll keep working on it until I get it right.


End file.
